What is a Lease Release Agreement?

A release of lease agreement, or termination of lease, is a legally binding agreement to end a landlord/tenant relationship and extinguish any remaining legal obligations between the parties under their underlying lease agreement. By signing and delivering a release of any remaining lease obligations, a party will effectively free itself from liability under the expired or terminated lease agreement.
A lease agreement, as the name suggests, is an agreement to lease or rent property. The signing of a lease agreement obligates the parties to perform certain functions as dictated by the terms of the lease. For example, the tenant will be required to pay a set amount of money as rent for a specified period of time in exchange for the right to use and occupy the leased property. A landlord will be required under the lease agreement to allow the tenant to use and occupy the property for the set term without harassment or unlawful interruption.
In effect, the release of lease agreement is a mutual agreement to end the legal obligation of the parties reflected in the underlying lease agreement. Importantly , unless state law or the underlying lease agreement contain specific language that prohibits such a release, one party can effectively terminate the lease with a simple reservation of rights provision. Simply put, upon signing and delivery of an agreement to release any remaining lease obligations, a party will effectively free itself from liability under the expired or terminated lease agreement. A landlord/tenant relationship exists only for as long as permitted under the terms of the underlying lease agreement, and once those terms are fulfilled, the resulting relationship ceases to exist. This is the case even where the parties do not formalize a release of their remaining lease obligations.
A release of lease agreement will typically include the following elements:
Simply stated, a release agreement serves the purpose of terminating any remaining obligations of the parties under the terms of the expired lease agreement. In effect, a release agreement is an agreement to end the landlord/tenant relationship.

What is an Online Trust?

An Online Trust is a trust that you form online via an Internet website. The Online Trust document you sign may be reviewed by a licensed attorney before it is signed electronically. After the document is electronically signed, it is executed online by one or more witnesses as required by the law. You can also send a link of the Internet document to your state’s probate court and assume that the probate court has received the document for its records.
Unlike a traditional trust, an Online Trust can be formed in about 15 minutes or less if the client has minimal assets and estate planning needs and is a relatively simple estate. The Online Trust is generally a revocable, amendable living trust created primarily to avoid a court-supervised probate proceeding after death.
Recently the Louisiana Legislature amended the probate code allowing Online Trusts by adding the following language: "Any person authorized to draft or prepare a trust instrument may use written or electronically recorded signatures. A trust instrument executed with a written or electronically recorded signature is enforceable and admissible in evidence as if it had been signed." The Louisiana Legislature also recently enacted a law providing for the creation of a trust on the Internet. The Louisiana statute provides the following in part: Section A: "Any person authorized to draft or prepare a trust instrument may use a trust instrument generated on the Internet. A trust instrument generated on the Internet, signed by a person of majority age, is enforceable as long as it complies with all other requirements for creating a trust under the trust laws of the State of Louisiana. The written or electronically recorded signature shall include a method by which the signer of the trust instrument acknowledges that the signer understands the risks associated with a trust instrument generated on the Internet , including the risk that the trust instrument may contain typographical errors, may not be appropriately generated or formatted, or may be subject to electronic transfer to incorrect persons." Section B: "If the testator or settlor of a will or trust has a mandatory form of identification such as a driver’s license or state or federally issued identification card and an e-mail address, any custodian may send the will or trust instrument via its mandatory Internet site to any person or agency, including the clerk of court and the testator’s or settlor’s internet service provider." Providing additional context for the Louisiana Online Trust law, the Louisiana Legislation Research Council explained in its "Digest" of the Bill (herein CT House Bill 393), "Present law requires any type of spectators to the execution of a testament or trust to be physically present at the signing of the testament or the designation of the trust and requires that the testator or settlor read the testament or trust instrument in the spectation of the spectators. This bill provides that this requirement may be satisfied if the trust instrument is generated on the Internet. Section B provides that if the settlor has a mandatory form of identification and an email address, any custodian can send the trust instrument via its mandatory Internet site to any agency, including the clerk of court, and the trustor’s or settlor’s Internet service provider." The Louisiana Estate Planning Council ("LEPC") recently endorsed the Louisiana Online Trust law. The Louisiana statute is similar to similar laws that already exist in California, Florida and Hawaii and also somewhat similar to the Uniform Power of Attorney Act that has been enacted in 16 other states, Louisiana included. Online Trusts continue to grow in popularity and now allow Louisiana residents to execute a valid trust via the Internet.

Introduction to California Knife Regulations

California knife laws are dictated by a combination of statutory code and case law that serves to define the scope of what’s acceptable and legal and what is restricted or illegal. Unfortunately, the laws can be a bit fuzzy, and while the average citizen covered by these laws is typically not required to study them in detail, those who are on the front lines of enforcing them—such as local law enforcement and even salespeople on the floor of cutlery departments—need to have a solid understanding of the legal landscape for buying and selling knives in the state.
When it comes to knives in California, any type of fixed blade knife—whether a hunting knife or a folding knife—is technically legal. That’s because there are not per se "banned" knives. What California does have is a law that discusses and defines restricted knives, which essentially just means knives that aren’t knives, for lack of a better term. This means things such as belt buckle knives, lipstick knives, cane knives and any other knife that doesn’t look like a knife. In other words, these unique knife designs are not banned because they don’t fall into the category of knives under the law.
However, once it’s been established that the knife in question is a knife, its legal status depends on the length of the knife blade. California has two categories for knives based on blade length: those that are considered dangerous weapons and those that are not . If a knife has a blade measuring two and one half inches or longer, it is defined as a dangerous weapon. While if the length of the knife blade measures at two inches or shorter, it’s not considered a dangerous weapon.
Knives with a blade measuring between two and two and one half inches in length don’t have specific laws regarding their concealment, but if someone does want to carry one of these knives, he or she must have a good reason to do so, and permission may be required from the chief officer of the police or sheriff department. In other words, those who wish to regularly carry this sort of knife for work or personal use likely need to apply for a permit from the local sheriff’s department.
If someone is discovered carrying a fixed blade knife with a blade longer than two and one half inches, he or she is breaking the law. Even if that knife was purchased legally and is fully legal to own, its possession becomes illegal as soon as it attempts to cross from open to concealed carry. If this is the case, the individual is charged with a felony carrying of a dangerous weapon on his or her person.
While it’s important to understand the broad strokes of California knife laws and the implications to bear in mind if you plan to shop for knives in the state, it’s also crucial to understand all of the details under the law that could ultimately prove the difference between a legal carry and a felony charge.

What is Contract Governance?

What is Contract Governance? It refers to an organization’s reporting line to ensure all of its regular business practices are aligned. The standard for which those practices are aligned influences how contract governance operates within an organization. Some businesses have much stricter standards when compared to other businesses – They are regulated by internal supportive departments specific to their own internal guidelines.
Contract governance should not be construed with contract management, both are very different. Contract governance is the nuts and bolts of contract management and signifies the ethical and accountable design, management, and operations of the whole organization. Contract governance is the internal approach on how a company manages, controls and reduces the threat of supply disruptions while ensuring long term business goals.
Contract governance should be professionally designed and effectively executed to ensure risk management and control of costs for both products and services. In effect , contract governance is reserved for monitoring conformance to an established contract standard. Contract governance is essential because it demonstrates the ability of a business to meet any contract requirements to satisfy the customer.
When it comes to compliance, there should be an expected governance capability by an organization to be able to validate it is adhering to specific contract requirements. Put differently, contract governance involves being able to determine an organization’s ability to ensure that the contract implements and executes to its obligations. This means that: (i) the organization is checking compliance rules against known conditions for each product/service the organization sells and; (ii) is counting ‘violation occurrences’ over a determined period of time.
Typically specific areas that are included in contract governance involve: assurance of service quality; supplier and product performance; customer satisfaction and compliance; risk factors analysis and; research and development programs and compliance.